Who Was That Masked Man?
by Tracy Diane Miller
Summary: Gary thought that he would spend a quiet day at home, but he soon learned otherwise.


Who Was That Masked Man?  
  
Summary: This very short story is based on "Occasionally Amber."  
  
Disclaimers: Early Edition characters belong to whoever created them. No copyright infringement intended. No profit is being made.  
  
Author: Tracy Diane Miller E-mail address: tdmiller82@hotmail.com  
  
Who Was That Masked Man?  
  
Like a modern day Hermes without the winged shoes but with unchallenged agility, he quickly ran through the labyrinth constituting the auction house negotiating the twists and turns with the acumen of a flight born from survival instincts. His heart was pounding and he could feel the sweat dripping from his body, sweat produced from acute fear, but he knew that he couldn't stop. The guards were hot on his trail like determined bloodhounds on the scent of its prey. If he stopped now, it would be all over for him.  
  
How could he be so stupid? When a self-proclaimed, ex-jewel thief bent on stealing a diamond for the "noble" cause of preventing a civil war hands you a ski mask and tells you to put it on with no questions asked, you don't put it on! He tried to believe that Jade was reformed and that she really loved Chuck, but his gut was singing a different aria, a song of doubt.  
  
With the insanity that has been his life since the advent of his early edition, he should have predicted this moment. But the caretakers of The Paper had lulled him into a false sense of security with its hint of a slow news day. He expected to be able to sit back and watch the clouds float by. He was even looking forward to dinner tonight with Brigatti. Not that it was a date or anything. There was still that little issue of trust that was a crater between them. He knew that he was an unsolved mystery to her and that he remained a burr in the britches of the Chicago Police Department with "odd" and "nut case" a few of the epitaphs that have been attached to his name. And he knew that if he expected whatever this "thing" that was between them to develop into something special, he would have to tell her the truth about The Paper and he didn't know if he was ready for that. They had never really talked about the events surrounding Scanlon's murder, how she had turned him away during the hour of his greatest need, and what later made her change her mind that she ended up risking her life to help him. That was something that they needed to talk about, too. Yet, tonight wasn't supposed to be about revelations. It was supposed to be about enjoying the company of a woman whom he found very attractive.  
  
The violent opening of McGinty's front door was the first domino to fall down which had led him to this moment. Chuck, the "prodigal son, had returned to Chicago with a bombshell announcement. Chuck was getting married. He had never seen Chuck so happy. And he was happy for his best friend until he met Chuck's fiancee, the blonde who was now calling herself Jade, but who he had known as Amber. Chuck called her sensitive, kind, caring, his Muse. She described Chuck as her soul mate and insisted that under the skin, she and Chuck were exactly the same. Her name and voice were different, but in his mind, she was still the same "Ice Woman" who had put the deep freeze on Chicago with her machinations. And he wasn't about to allow Chuck to become an unknowing victim to her grand manipulation. Marissa implored him to tell Chuck what he knew about Jade's past and he wanted to tell Chuck the truth, he knew that he owed Chuck the truth, but he couldn't. Chuck was so happy and so in love. Chuck had always been the guy who felt that "commitment" was a dirty word. Now Chuck was hugging people, swaying to romantic ballads with a mannequin adorned in a wedding dress, and offering a spirited rendition of "Get Me To The Church On Time." So even as he sat on Jade's bed of lies, he tried to believe that she had gone straight and that she really loved Chuck. Yet, he wondered whether his belief was misplaced especially after Brigatti revealed that the police suspected that Jade was back in town to steal the soon to be auctioned Harland diamond and The Paper foretold the jewel's theft. Still instead of revealing the truth about Jade's past to Chuck, he concocted a plan to keep Jade away from temptation. Donning the excuse of a rehearsal dinner ("the whole evening, just the four of us"), he lauded the brilliance of his plan as a nervous Jade sat at the table for dinner with him, Chuck, and Marissa. But Jade proved that she was as cunning as a panther when it came to getting what she wanted. The next thing he knew two female cops came into McGinty's, placed him and Chuck under arrest and handcuffed them to their chairs. The cops turned out to be strippers in the bachelor party "lovingly" orchestrated by the future Mrs. Fishman. The women revealed that they had orders to detain him and Chuck for at least two hours.  
  
With a wicked gleam in her eye, Jade left McGinty's to fulfill a nefarious destiny. Later, he cornered Jade in her hotel room as she held the sparkling gem in her hands. He liberated the diamond from her and confronted her with her deception. She answered his charge by offering some convoluted story that she had been hired by East Morenia to steal the Harland diamond to prevent West Morenia from successful bidding on the diamond at the auction and using it as a pretext to invade the East. He wasn't buying her ridiculous story for one minute. Before he knew it, he and Jade had fallen onto the bed and she was wrestling him for the diamond. And predictably, like some vengeful fulfillment of Murphy's Law, Chuck entered the room and saw him and Jade in this compromising position. Without hesitation, Jade threw him to the "wolf" by lying to Chuck that he had made a pass at her. The sad and painful thing was that Chuck believed Jade, a woman that Chuck had only known for two weeks, rather then him, his best friend whose character and integrity Chuck had known for years. Chuck socked him and threw him out of the hotel room. The abuse continued when he heard Brigatti's angered voice in the hallway. Oh Boy. He stammered nervously under her scrutiny. She yanked him by the collar, dragged him into another room, and slammed him up against a wall. She confronted him with his lie about not having seen Jade and threatened him that "if so much as a rhinestone earring disappeared" while Jade was in Chicago, she would have him thrown in jail as an accomplice. Then Brigatti told him that they were "through". Through as in over. But when had they even had a chance at a beginning?  
  
The Paper offered a shock with its headline about West Morenia invading the East as recovered gem inflames region. Jade had been telling the truth about the impending civil war. He called Jade, told her that he changed his mind, he now believed her story, and that he wanted to help. He cautioned her that the police were watching her room and told her to meet him at his loft. Jade came to the loft equipped with a floor plan for the auction house. A few minutes later, an uninvited visitor, Brigatti, entered the loft. She found him and Jade hovered over the floor plan for the auction house. Oh boy. Brigatti pulled out her gun and placed him and Jade under arrest. A moment later, the loft became a revolving door to yet another uninvited visitor when a mysterious man brandishing a gun demanded that Brigatti drop her gun. "Mr. X." then chloroformed Brigatti and abducted her.  
  
He continued running, pure adrenaline propelling him forward. All of those years ago playing football and now dashing across the city answering the demands of The Paper had paid off. He kept thinking how he would explain to the police if he were caught. Somehow he didn't think that they would buy how he had conspired with a jewel thief to steal the diamond in order to prevent a Balkan war. Worst still, he didn't even want to think about what Brigatti (if she were still alive) was going to do to him.  
  
Thankfully, he had effectively eluded the police and smelled the sweet air of freedom. A day that had started with the promise of relaxation, no heroics, and being able to savor the peace of watching "the clouds float by". Except no one told him that they were storm clouds.  
  
The End. 


End file.
